Strummerfest gathers tribute to Clash singer

Guelph Mercury

In the spirit of The Clash — the iconic ’70s punk band who rebelled against the status quo with brains, attitude and a pulverizing sense of righteousness — Strummerfest 2012 is being organized by a guy who has done the same, and then some.

“I’m a former missionary,” laughs Michael Clifton, the 48-year-old Mormon who co-organized this massive tribute to the late Clash singer Joe Strummer, who died Dec. 22, 2002, at 50, from a heart defect.

“I enjoy artists of any kind who stand out,” explains the former teen rebel, a burgeoning artist/philosopher who found himself “unemployable” and became a condo lawyer instead. “Because they aren’t just doing what the other guys are doing.”

That’s the key, he says. And The Clash — which came to be known as The Only Band That Matters — stood out from its punk peers for two reasons:

• musical innovation, with elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap and rockabilly finding their way onto classic albums like Sandinista! and London Calling.

• progressive politics, with songs addressing contentious issues such as race, unemployment, social class and world politics from a defiant left-wing perspective.

If The Sex Pistols wanted to destroy the world, and The Ramones wanted to remake it as a satirical Dayglo cartoon, The Clash wanted to reposition it on a higher ethical plane.

“The Clash just had no rules,” insists Clifton, who with co-organizer Care Finch, has assembled 23 indie bands to pay tribute at seven local venues.

“I remember listening to London Calling and being blown away by how expressive it was. They weren’t bound by any particular music genre. They played jazz, blues, whatever struck them in the moment. They were frontrunners.”

The indie acts he’s assembled for this ambitious fundraiser aren’t — with the exception of S--- From Hell, which features Canadian punk pioneer Warren Kinsella — strictly punk, but they all share the do-your-own-thing spirit that defined The Clash.

“The best punks will always be teenagers,” notes the father of two teenagers, who attended punk concerts in Toronto during his youth and saw the Clash perform there in ’82.

“Maybe adolescence is by nature punkish. You’re defying authority, because authority is by nature bound with tradition. There’s an emerging consciousness. You’re defining all that’s gone wrong and what should being going right. The basic moral principle is you should care about people.”

Despite a punk edict that gives the middle finger to nostalgia, Clifton sees no conflict between his current position as a middle-aged pillar of society gazing wistfully backward and the live-for-the-moment scrapper he once was.

“Every generation goes through the same cycle,” he notes philosophically. “Punks grow up and become parents, and I think feelings of nostalgia and wanting to settle down and resolve conflicts just become a part of life.”

He laughs. “Reality catches up with all of us.”

Besides, anyone who can convince 23 bands and solo acts to pay voluntary tribute to a dead punk rocker outdoors (as well as indoors) in what are likely to be sub-zero temperatures hasn’t lost the ability to rub against the grain.

“We’re challenging nature,” notes Clifton of the main stage concert at Kitchener city hall he estimates will feature 50 per cent Clash material. “There’s an authority you’ve got to try to take down!”

Pay what you can. All profits go to Waterloo Region Suicide Prevention Council and Your Life Counts!

After party: 10:30 p.m. featuring Time Giant at Bobby O’Brien’s.

The festival will also present Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten, an ’07 musical doc, at Waterloo’s Princess Cinema (6:45 p.m. Thursday) and are staging an online art and collectibles charity auction.

For more information, and list of venues and performers, see strummerfest2012.com